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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28364451">Death threat † Love letter</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisibleClosedEyes/pseuds/VisibleClosedEyes'>VisibleClosedEyes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fallen from Towers [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abusive Relationships, Bad BDSM Etiquette, Canon-Typical Violence, Criminal Activities, Cyberpsychosis, Disturbing Fluff, Disturbing Themes, Don’t follow the game main story, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Good bdsm practice, Heavy BDSM, Immigration &amp; Emigration, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Sex, MILFs, Mental Health Issues, Mentions of Prostitution, More Meredith yes, No Meredith love quest? Fine I’ll do it myself, Obsessive Behavior, Older Woman/Younger Woman, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Political, Present Tense, Redemption, Schizophrenia, Sexual Tension, Sexual Violence, Side Quests, Slow Burn, Slow burn but with a lot of sex in between before they actually confess, Spoilers, Thai immigrant, Thai/English creole, They're toxic but also will get better, Toxic Relationship, Unhealthy Relationships, V isn’t dying or we just gonna ignore that, co dependence, it actually not that dark, side quests spoiler, slightly AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:41:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,926</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28364451</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisibleClosedEyes/pseuds/VisibleClosedEyes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Because V accepted the call that day, now she was in this mess of a relationship</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Meredith Stout/Female V, Original female character/Female V</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fallen from Towers [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070264</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>136</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. It’s goes somewhere</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>      Both women remember the very first time they met at the overpass. How bitchy Meredith got and how irritated V became. The job closed nicely though, Meredith didn't lose her head and V got that Flathead she was in a rush for. Whatever, the point is there was no reason why both of equally volatile people would ever associate with each other again but—as they said in Night city—whatever the dumbest shit wouldn't happen will most likely gonna happen. Meredith called V again after that—shouldn’t do it but she did—to give her another assignment. V picked up, surprisingly fast too considered the call was made at 3 am.</p><p>   ” Who?” V answered with a throaty voice then Meredith heard friction and bubbles being spat out sounds—V was at her sink brushing her teeth… at 3 Am. Well, she was a merc so that made sense.<br/>   </p><p>   “You deleted my contact after our arrangement?” Meredith asked at the other end of the line. She was sitting on the couch in her apartment in the middle of Night city—or commonly known as ‘Corp center’. The lights of thousands of colors poured into her highly advanced optic enchantment cybernetic eyes. Meredith processed the saturation of lights and changed from different presets to another, filtered lights in and out, adjusted brightness the way she liked it while waiting for V to say something.<br/>On V’s side, she frowned at the other woman's words and picked up her phone to check who was calling. Oh.</p><p>“Meredith Stout?” V was far more surprised than her voice how her voice expressed. Didn't expect the Corpo lady to acknowledge her existence let alone called her again. And for some reasons (justifiably too) V felt like this is the beginning of big trouble coming her way.</p><p>” Good, you remembered, ” Meredith answered from her end. This was the most awkward conversation V had ever had with anyone on the phone. Even the overly performative fixers were not this awkward on the call.</p><p>“ so? Your point of calling?” V asked</p><p>“ I have a new assignment for you, ” the Militech agent talked to V like she was giving an order to one of her Corpo rats employees to which V found was pretty funny and shot her down immediately</p><p>“ Sorry. You want your job done by a merc? Go to fixers first and they will set it up for ya, ”</p><p>“ Why? Violation of the code of ethics, rules? Even if it did, you already did it for me once, didn't you?” Meredith retorted back confidently. The blonde Corpo heard V sighed</p><p>” Called me back at 10 in the morning, I'm exhausted now—”</p><p>“ You either take this now or leave it the fuck alone, V.” Meredith retorted back.</p><p>Fucking hell. The audacity of this bitch but shit… She's a one-heavy pocket bitch at least. V picked up her phone and threw herself on the couch before turning off the Tv that has been running in the background just to make her every day stay less unbearable and lonely.</p><p>“Right… What’s this job of yours? Need someone to tie up the loose end on your incompetent slip-up again?”</p><p>“ Very funny—One of my underlings seems to believe that if he treated me nice enough, I would just turn my eyes blind and look over on whatever shady shit he was up to—well, he made a big mistake, and you, V, are going to send him my regard, remain him who build him up and who can… knock him down, ”</p><p>“ Fancy speak but basically you want me to beat this guy up? Get him out of the picture?”</p><p>” Will send you more details of your target later, crime reports that are—use it to do whatever your heart contents.”</p><p>“ Wait! I didn't say I…Well—shit.” Before V could say anything further, Meredith hangs up. Let the woman with herself and her own reflection in the mirror. Damn, V really looked like shit. She thought she would get some peace and go call it a day but then the reflection of glitches appeared in the mirror—and Johnny visualized (materializes?) just behind her, standing there being as obnoxious as ever.</p><p>“ Cool, seems like you got yourself a needy Corpo bitch up on your ass. Gotta admit—from your memory, would probably fuck and leave.” He said while dragging in his none existing virtual cigs</p><p>” Shut your trap, Johnny. I'm tired.” V left the bathroom after she finished cleaning herself up, turned off all the electronics that make noise, and then the lights. She collapsed on her bed, shutting her eyes tight</p><p>“ Seriously though V, don't accept the work, don't meet her. Don't involve yourself in this Corpo chick’s affairs,”</p><p>“ The money is good, Johnny ”</p><p>“ Fucking hell, ” he cursed and then disappeared</p><p>Only if V knew what she was getting herself into.</p><p>——————————</p><p>Meredith looked at her phone for a while then opened the messaging app. She searched for V contact and texted her that they will meet tomorrow. The view of Night city from her penthouse was small and insignificant—people, cars, gangs, and trauma teams drifting from one place to another, it blended in with each other and developed an illusion of lights that flow like a river stream. People turned into something akin to concept rather than a living breathing organic machine that they were. Compared to all of them, Meredith’s life is worth more than all of them combined yet…</p><p>No. Don’t think like that. Don’t think of what V had told her a week ago—You might have people after you, ready to take your command but actually, you were alone and you know it—that was what she said to Meredith, or something resembling that. Meredith still thought of that. Hate how she can’t argue with that. No, don’t think about it—she didn’t need that right now</p><p>The blonde woman sighed. She hoped she could get some sleep tonight. Hope.</p><p>——————————</p><p>   V checked coordinates for the second time and she was sure that this place was the exact place that Meredith sent her this morning. Behind this red building in Kabuki in the quiet and dimmed alleyways—Well, V was here but not Meredith nor her men were seen here. After waiting for almost half an hour, a luxurious black car arrived before V. A normal car this time, not a van. The driver in black rushed in to open the door of the passenger seat but then had to back out quickly when the blonde woman opened it herself in full force. It was funny seeing the guy tried not to upset his boss and failed and Meredith’s ungrateful reaction—V swore she heard her swore something close to ‘Fuck off’ under her breath.</p><p>“ Meredith Stout, glad you make it after…. 30 minutes later, got chewed by your boss beforehand?” V drew attention back to her with a mocking opening</p><p>“ Shut the fuck up! I called you for a job not lecturing me,” V ignored the blonde Corpo sudden outburst and continued with a more professional tone.</p><p>“ Right, about the job. Is there more to discuss?” V asked Meredith. The blonde woman took a deep drag and released the smoke that quickly disintegrated into the wind. V noted the smell—expensive niches brand, peculiar and unfamiliar.</p><p>“ Your target has some dealing with the Tyger Claws—forgot to mention that yesterday. But… guessing from your record—that doesn’t sound like a problem to you.” Meredith trailed off while pulling out her tablet and scrolling through something—probably a reminder of some kind.</p><p>“ Well, it depends on the number and their ranks. One hundred recruit dipshit tigresses are still one hundred tygresses”</p><p>“ There might be at least 20-30 Tygerclaws on the site. No bosses as far as I know. The target’s name is James Dyland. The precise coordinates are already in your phone and I will meet you when the job’s finished.”</p><p> </p><p>Well, shit… It’s not like V can turn down the eddies. Fuck it—here goes nothing. Only if V knows at the time how this one gig will lead to an utterly, spectacularly shitshow.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Blood on glass</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mission went well and V learned a little bit more about Meredith, then faced the consequences of being a gun for hire.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Wow, I didn't expect this much feedback and attention! thanks you !</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The building that James is holding himself up is everything rather than normal. The exterior was painted with bright pink color with a neon green graffiti ‘Pajinko” written all over it but what was going on inside definitely was not what the exterior is advertising </p><p>     V hijacks the surveillance camera at the front and scrolls through all of them to get a clear picture of the site. Well, the outside was weird but the inside was something that one would consider seeing in an establishment controlled by the Tygerclaw—a brothel—another dollhouse. There is a decent size of the gangers around 30 people—like Meredith said, plus or negative 5 or between that; so her data is pretty accurate, to say the least. Other souls, except for the bartender that looks similar to the gangers, are dolls or at least something reminiscence of—they wear fewer clothes, of course, the men wears something like a boxer but much more fancy but the girls seem to be the real star here—none of the women wear the same outfit, they are all in different variations of bikinis or see-through undies. </p><p>“ Another dollhouse, seriously? Didn’t they have enough already?” </p><p>   She turns her attention to the other things that would help her accomplish this gig. Security and blueprint. 6 rooms on the ground floor with a staircase in the main hallway that seems to lead to the basement floor—which conveniently has no camera installed at all. </p><p>  Hm, what could be possibly hidden down there—V thinks then she disconnects from the CCTV network and gets to work. She decides to infiltrate through the half-open window in the storage area of the building. Two guards and one gunner, she starts hacking one of them with a short circuit and then uses a silenced pistol with the other—V dashes in just right before the body hits the ground and creates noise then turns around and hacks the gunner with the same trick. </p><p>  “Shit… ” V swears as she can feel the burn at the back of her skull right in the neural port—yeah, her Militech Paraline is practically on fire right now as she already burned all the RAM it has. Fuck, her soft is garbage but that has to do it, for now. She doesn't even have enough Eddie to pay off her apartment at this time—new soft? Forget about it. But yeah, she has to put OS soft on her top priority shopping list—this is bad. </p><p>   She picks them off one by one knowing that going on full assault is not an option for a merc like her—and her grade of equipment but that's what V is good at, fortunately. Only 10mins in and the backstage staff are either dead or neutralized. There is nothing of interest on this floor—V mentally notes to herself. V heads downstairs with high caution and a pistol in hand, ready to get into some surprise action. However, what surprises her the most is that there's no one here except the name who she's looking for and just that. No cameras aren't the weirdest part but the lack of guards is. So V scans the area—no booby traps either, like none. Well, shit, whatever.</p><p>   “ James Dylan, how was your evening? Good?” </p><p>    He jumps when V says that—his voice is shaking as he asks her for forgiveness. Knows exactly what this is about—Militech and Meredith. She didn't come here to fuck him up, not her score after all so she tells him that she needs to know what and how much detes was leaked. He gives her all in details, then she reminds him that Meredith is still on his ass about this and he should either become her good dog again or delta the fuck out. So there's that—gig’s closed, now leaving the building. </p><p>   Meredith is waiting for V at the front of the building again—creates this hollow reminiscence of the Flathead mission that she and… Jackie went together. The blonde Militech agent looks beyond content—cig in her one hand while the other is on her hip and sly smiles that plaster on her face. </p><p>  “What did I used to say to you, V? I like the way you operate. Your pocket will be pretty filled soon,”</p><p> “ Well, uh, yeah. Later then.” V see her bank account notification tells her that her numbers just ywent up and now it's time to get the fuck out. But then something else stops her completely </p><p> “ Ride with me, ” Meredith invites V with a casual attitude, something that is quite completely different from yesterday's conversation on the holo—not the first time she does this ( she did this the first time they met before the Flathead too )—yet, it still feels as uncanny as ever. The blonde leans against the black preem-looking car that’s so shiny and reflective it could be used as a mirror itself. That sly smile is still on her face, and it’s kinda pissed V off at this point. </p><p>    Is this the time where the loose ends are tied?</p><p>    She shouldn’t go, should just go back to her apartment and be done with it—works for Meredith for the one last time. But—that’s not how it when down, for some reason she doesn’t think this one through<br/>
The next she realizes is that she’s in the passenger seats along with Meredith next to her. Johnny materialized at the front passenger seat and looked at V with a critical glance. </p><p>“ Don’t tell me you’re going to fuck this corpo bitch” </p><p>“ Free ride, Johnny. Taking advantage of a corpo—thought you would like that?” she mentally replies to the holo rockerboy with dark-haired. He’s unhappy than he normally was—probably because V’s decisions conflict with his ideology. Even in death, the idea won’t die—huh? </p><p>“ Your place?” </p><p>“ Mega Building H10, Watsons” V answers Meredith. And there’s that. Fucking awkward as fuck but V tolerates it—after all, it’s a free, convenient and short ride. </p><p>   A few minutes later, they arrived at V sidewalk in front of V apartment. The merc collects everything that belongs to her and hastily gets out of Meredith’s car so that she isn’t spotted by her neighbor being with a corpo. </p><p>“ Thanks,” V leaves some gratitude before she runs for her home however—would feel strangely ungrateful to not say that but V doesn’t wait for the blonde to say anything at all. </p><p>   The whole situation was weird and V is more than ready to bury it deep in her memory somewhere and forget it—like any other gigs she did, just forget it in a few days. V is so sure about it, that this won’t develop into anything beyond her imagination. Now, she focuses on finally getting home and holes herself in her apartment for the next 4 or 5 days </p><p>    She still has a lot to think and many things need to be planned and put in place. Things have been… rough for her after the failure of the heist for the goddam biochip she can’t even take it out of her port—let alone sell. It cost her two most valuable friends—Jackie, and T-bug. Sure, Bug was a little cold, harsh and disinterested at times but she was the choom one could ever ask for. </p><p>And Jackie… Fuck. </p><p>     V looks at the ceiling of the elevator. Nothing of interests but she always hates when she take a long elevators ride because lack of distraction makes her thinks but it’s a public place so she can’t be emotional about it—but thinking hard about herself always get her to the opposite end of the mental stability spectrum—not on the calm side, minds you. Viktor said to her once that looking up about to cry doesn’t help the keep the tear back in her eyes socket—yet, V found it helps her bottling up the emotion and makes her feel better like a placebo effect given by Clean Cut. </p><p>     The elevator stops and the rusty iron gate opens once it arrives at the service floor. V steps out and dashes to her room as fast as she possibly could; probably unintentionally ignores some of her acquaintances that call out to her but she couldn’t care less, she just wants to rest. Because of carelessness and desire to just call it a day, V bumps into a person in black with hood covering their face. She tries to give them a short apology but the person just looks at her shortly and quickly leaves out of her sight. She is confused but makes nothing of it.<br/>
Along the way to her room, V hears the noise coming from the gym’s TV. It’s about Militech which is not something V is particularly interested in—you know, boring Corpo announcement and stuff but she suddenly turns her attention to it when one name is mentioned by the reporter:</p><p>     Enough with the bad news for the Night city! let’s talk about something else worth celebrating! Congratulations to Militech corporation night city branch on their new representative—Meredith Stout, who was recently promoted from Senior Operation Manager just last week!</p><p>     Huh, that’s one hell of a raise? Probably the Maelstrom raid went well in her favor as she thought. Well, good for her then. But then it stucks V—she just got a ride from the representative of night city Militech? shit. Then V hears Meredith start talking: she doesn’t catch shit she says as V focuses on the way she presents herself—the way she calmly gives a speech—the way her strong feature on her face is… shit. V stops her thought then continues making her way to her home, trying not to get distracted by anything at this time. </p><p>     People hate the city—V gets it but she can’t pretend and lie that she’s not into living in a dense area, many might say it makes them feel lonely — V can feel that too but still dig it nonetheless. The door of her apartment is unlocked when V presses her wrist to the biometric reader, she greets with a shocking image in front of her—</p><p>     It is a mess. Almost everything that wasn’t built-in was knocked off the surface or just broke entirely. Her bed was cut deep to its mattress so violently that the fillers spilled out like a gut of a murder victim. V rushes to her personal computer just to find out that it forced lock itself--possibly due to multiple failed attempts to hack which relieves V a little because, at least, they don’t get any data out of her PC. Then she realizes something at the window in her living room-- A word written in a memancing red color reminiscing of real, non modded human blood:</p><p>                                              Dead woman  </p><p> </p><p>“ Oh fuck,” Johnny mumbles while leaning against the door</p><p>-----------------------------------</p><p> </p><p>  “ Send me the details. No, to my personal computer, not the work one.” Meredith immediately cuts the holo. She puts her phone down on the table that looks like it was made entirely out of glass. She pours herself a glass of wine that is made out of organic grapes unlike those that come from the common folks--made out of… whatever that was. Militech’s uniform was long taken off and Meredith is now in her sleepwear and a bathrobe that seems to be a wealth statement rather than to cover up. </p><p>She sits the glass down on her desk in her working room then turns on her PC and browses for the data she previously asked from her underling. The file labeled:</p><p> </p><p>Valerie<br/>
(sometimes known as Vanessa) Alias V,<br/>
-Biometric, employment history, medical record, immigrant status, NCPD record, and other record-</p><p> </p><p>Meredith clicks and scrolls</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Middle Path</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Meredith is bound fix potential crisis in Haywood and V’s chasing led to the culprit. And just like a car crash, they come in contact in the middle of the road--literally.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Again, thanks you for reading</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Violet. Valarie. Vanessa. Venice</p><p>    All of these are the names that come up when she has her people dig deep into this person—the mercenary known as V. Too many names changed but none of it was legally obliged, so more like a street name thing. People in Night city opt-in and out of different identities all the time but this revelation of V still peeps her curiosity nonetheless. </p><p>   Morning already starts with a slap in a face for Meredith. Turns out there’re so many loose ends that she needs to tie after the recent fallout of internal fighting in Militech. She needs to act quick and precisely as well as getting the message across the division. She’s in charge now, finally. It was a breathless moment for her when she was summoned to the conference last week between the management and the executives—thought she fucked something up but it was the opposite. A representative and head senior operation manager—impressive but she could go much further and that's just one little step to her goal. But now—she has to take care of the immediate problem… </p><p>    Meredith straightens herself as soon as she hears the sound of expensive shoes clicking and thumping on the shiny, well-polished granite tiles in the hallway just outside her office. Her Secretary enters first and the other person stops outside.</p><p>    “ Miss Stout,”</p><p>    “ Bring him in, ” </p><p> </p><p>                              ——————</p><p>      V’s pacing around her apartment like paranoid gonk with a million Eddies stolen from big corps on her laps as she is figuring out how the fuck will she handle this. </p><p>        “ Easy, V. We went in gun blazing the entire club full of Tygerclaw before. Track the fucker down—serve him some lead and be done with it.” Johnny says to V with a casual attitude while leaning against the vending machine.<br/>
“ This is different, Johnny. Some gonks just broke into my house, wrote a cryptic threatening message on the windows, and tried to hack my computer” —not a regular ‘ dealing with some gang members ’ things she faced in the city. This is in her place—as a sanctuary—got breached and… Well, almost got violated   </p><p>       “ Yeah, yeah. I got that but pacing around won’t fix shit—how ’bout calling up that useless landlord of yours? Or security or whatever, ” He suggests as he is now kicking back on her bed looking so unbothered that V wanna fuck him up herself.</p><p>      “ Should I call the badges?” </p><p>      “ If you want your break-ins case to be in a bureaucratic circle of hell and evaporates into the next dimensions then sure.” He throws his hands into the air. Though, he makes this to sound like he doesn’t give a fuck about cops, V has him in her head long enough to know that rockerboy really fucking does not enjoy associate with one. He would bitch and whine her ears off whenever V decides to stop by and do some badges reported leftover tasks for some sweet quick eddies. Assist cops bad blah blah you’re turning into a narc blah blah. </p><p>     “ And you ain’t a narc? Pretty sure you checked off all the requirements, ” He accuses and V rolls her eyes to heaven</p><p>    “ They can be bastards, I know that. That doesn’t mean everything they do is evil, Johnny. You know that--I know that, hell, you are living in my head right now don’t pretend you don’t understand what I mean,” V throws herself onto the bed and stretches herself to the extreme degree that her cyberware on her shoulder sends a worrisome twisted noise. Laying on bed, she lets her mind wanders aimlessly—thinking of too many things at once: the overdue rent, the eddies, the deads, her dwelling supplies, her monthly expense on the medicine alone</p><p> </p><p>                       Jesus fucking Christ. Maybe she should just die after the heist.</p><p> </p><p>     “ The system is what’s hurting you, V. And you are assisting it by being more or less a narc,” He states, the anarchist cyber ghost takes off his shades and now directly looks at V, right into her soul. Just as he’s about to turn this into another long lecture about corporations greed and violation of human nature, her annoyance spikes and she interrupts him. V springs up back in the sitting position, both of her hands are forward but leaving gap between them as it meant to represents some sort of length, then she goes off:</p><p>    “ I’m sorry but while you were dead and digitally frozen, people woke up and lived their life. And you know what’s so awesome about that?—none of it has anything to do with ‘rebel the system’ or ‘Arasaka bad’. I just… I just wanna live—wanna survive and maybe—just maybe make it…” </p><p>    “ Big? And looks where that got you. Fucking waste of time—your brain is all gonk from all that propaganda and consumerism bullshit, you won’t get what I said anyway so why fucking bother?”<br/>
V glares at Johnny and vice versa. Nobody is going to back down, and nobody sees eyes to eyes. After a few seconds, V decides to just call it a fight and redirect her energy to something that’s more important at the moment like figuring out who breaks into her house.<br/>
“ I will go talk to my landlord, she should be able to pull some security footage or something,” </p><p>                                       ————————</p><p>      At least that was a fruitful meeting and now something could be done with the problem that she needs to solve. The success at the All Food plant does not, in the slightest, make her work anymore easy—would dare to say, shits have gotten even more convoluted now. Meredith takes a long drag from her cigarette, she lets white smoke slowly leave her lips as she lets her mind drift. From one problem to another, this is her work—her life; fixing one problem just so that she could move forward to deal with another problem. Then repeats to the value of infinity. Meredith is tired but can’t do a goddamn thing about it because the reward of being a corpo is far beyond any NC rats could ever understand. </p><p>     “ Meredith?” A voice of a woman much younger than her—probably around mid 20s, comes from the front door. Her name Isabelle—a high class joytoy, Meredith’s favorite pick. The girl has a strong decent build—athletic but with less edge to her body and still maintains a decent percentage of fat on top of her muscle so she looks soft and firm at the same time—basically, Meredith’s ideal of beauty. The cherry on top is her ashy green tea hair—subtle, the 2020s classic. Meredith always has a thing for classics.<br/>
“ I’m on the second floor, ” Meredith yells from where she is, the second open floor that has only half wall and only ⅓ big compared to her first floor. It's a lounge area with several seats and a bar on the side. By her standard, it's nothing fancy—she has seen some of the other executive's houses that are way, way more over the top than hers. Isabelle arrives quickly, she walks so softly thanks to the chrome that reduces the feet 'impact —it amplifies this image of… Angelic creature? Soft like floating…<br/>
She lands her kiss on Meredith’s neck while her softs hands slithering around and down the blonde’s curve.<br/>
“ I’m worried—” she says out of the blue while her lips are roaming on Meredith’s perfectly maintained skin. Most people assumed that she’s all RealSkinn but in fact most of her body is still organic just like any common gonks in the city, surprising but true. Isabelle continues where she leaves off: “ This job of your will end up killing you at some point,”<br/>
Meredith lips curl. She feels weirdly touched by the sentiments. Unconvinced that a joygirl would actually care about her enough to voice her concern about the corpo’s well-being--but it doesn’t feel fake either. Well, people are complicated, unpredictable and Meredith trusts no one. Still, the sentiments are appreciated.<br/>
“ It already did that--” Meredith touches the area around under her left ear, where that tattoo of her was inked. “...a long time ago,” she finishes her sentence and turns attention to the woman accompanying her but then her phone starts ringing. </p><p>                                                         Well, shit.<br/>
She picks her phone up and realizes that it came from Tom--her personal netrunner and, well, her friend… to some certain degree. </p><p>       “ Yeah? Now? At a goddamn 8pm? You better give me some real good detes or I will skin you alive, Tom. Yeah, sure. That place. See you there,” </p><p>  ————————</p><p>      “ So we got the security footage. Turns out it was that fucking guy in black,” V massages her temples. It looks pretty fucking obvious but there no way on earth she could predict something like this.<br/>
“ Really? You can’t see this coming at all? Like being a gun for hire--killing people? Don’t ya think some obsessed gonk would take that upon you, at all?” Johnny appears behind her again, leaning against the bathroom door while she focuses on scrolling back and forth the footage.<br/>
Well… Fuck, yeah. He’s right. Shoulda see this one coming and put more security at the door. Goddamn it, she’s a fucking literaly netrunner and here she is; getting her house keyed like a green-faced gonk.<br/>
“ The Landlord won’t help with anything beyond a footage. Said she didn’t want to get her hands dirty, probably ‘cause I’m an edgerunner,” She  technically mutters to herself but since Johnny was here, it really just her talking to him.<br/>
“ Heh, so much for someone who owes you money every month. So? What now?” He replies<br/>
“ Call someone, maybe the one that has a connection with NCPD or with the street...maybe both. I thinks I has some plan,”<br/>
“ Uh-huh, doesn’t have good feeling about this whatsoever,”</p><p>  ————————</p><p>      “ I hope this is important,” Meredith opens the conversation with a cold, half-pissed voice to the man with orange hair and sunglasses who is sitting in a booth inside this dinner in a discreet area of Charter Hill. Though Meredith is harsh, Tom was her friend long enough to know that it’s just all for show--no seriousness behind it, like this is their own little banter.<br/>
“ Found something interesting about the ‘Militech assault on Arasaka’s property’ in Heywood. Turns out it’s all a big fat bunraku show starring a bunch of Valentinoes with stole Militech gears on. The puppeteer ? Arasaka mole in Militech.” Tom says with a low voice but full of confidence. Though this is a really big deal… it’s really about war and death, Tom casually addresses all that to Meredith.<br/>
“ Fucking know it… You don’t happen to know who the mole, don’t you?” Mole, again? Meredith literally got migraine from that. Tom smirks at her then hands out the shard.<br/>
“ Slot in,” when she slots the data shard in the info is flooding in as the orange-haired man starts to narrate “ Olivia Schneider. Age 35, ‘ working for Militech for five years. Data organizer management. Perfect position if you ask me—not too high-up that she gets eyes on her 24/7 but not too small to mobilize, also get access to data? Chef’s kiss.” </p><p>        “ And the motive is there. Working for Militech for 5 years but no promotion? Not even a raise? Wouldn't be a reach to say that she would betray us. However, that doesn’t explain about—the equipment leaks. Schneider maintained and accessed data but she has no way to access the equipment herself.” Meredith continues to make out from the info she receives from her netrunner. While this is quite a revelation, what it also tells her is that there are much more dirty worms wriggling under her corporation—and she needs to act fast.<br/>
“ This is all I got at the moment. Need to run from ‘saka tincan police too, you know.” Tom states. He takes a small sip from his coffee with too much cream in it, by Meredith's taste.<br/>
“ What did you do this time?” Asks the blonde with a seemingly uncaring voice—oh but she cares so much actually, if not? She wouldn’t ask at all.<br/>
“ Just like any opportunist netrunners would do after that chaotic mess of a heist in Konpeki plaza; poking hole for profits or shit n’ giggles.” Again, he says it dismissively, like it’s not that big of a deal.<br/>
After that both of them leave the diner, Meredith decides to ‘give’ her friend a ride back to his place which is on the same route to her house. Yeah, ‘give’—technically, it’s more like Tom forcing and guilt tripping her to. It's surprisingly quiet in Heywood tonight, she expected occasional shooting or police chasing criminals across the streets — Trauma Team swoop in to save the day, or suspicious solos. But no, none of that tonight. Makes her feel strangely unsettled, like something real bad could drop on her any moments. Oh, boy—isn’t she right. </p><p>       “ What the—” Meredith swears as her optics suddenly registers something into her brain like an object moving fast across the street in front of her ride. Her optics aren’t the best Militech has to offer but Meredith doesn’t need high-ends eyes and synapses to know that someone is just trying to run past the streets but then gets hit on the side by her car. Meredith feels the impact of metal engines against a person of much less weight —and that person has yet to get up<br/>
“ Girl, this just ain’t your day,” Tom offers an incredibly useful commentary.<br/>
“ Are they fucking dead?”<br/>
“ Would love to tell ya that too, but I’m not a Trauma Team.”<br/>
But before Meredith could get out of the car to see the damage and also to see if the gonk is dead, they suddenly get up and groan in moderate pain—wait, hold on.<br/>
“ V?! The hell are you doing in Heywood,” The blonde lowers the window and shouts at the who… she just hit and didn’t expect to see here.<br/>
“ Meredith?! I… need you to drive…” she pants heavily and—without permission—barges into her ride’s passenger seats.<br/>
“ Follow that fucking guy over there! I’ll explain later!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Trap in her hands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This takes very long. I got bombarded by colleague works and depression kinda barred me from being able to write. Anyway, thank you for all your comments!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
  <span>Before she got her ass handled by Meredith’s car, V got an idea who she thought could help her. Yes, one of them is Regina Jones but she didn’t feel like calling her at the moment—she wants to get info from the street first before sticking her nose around NCPD’s business. So she went to Totentanz. Yes, really. The trip was surprisingly easy, there were still Maelstromers asking if she was the same person that gun blazed out of the All Food factory—then she found Patricia and asked her where Brick was, the woman groaned but peacefully led her to the leader. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>    Brick confirmed it wasn’t the maelstrom ‘cause if it was? They would sneak in while V slept and she would already be brutally violated and cut into pieces but also ‘ breaking in’ is not something they do—the worst-case scenario probably is getting clubbed on the street. So, no, it wasn’t them but Brick mentioned something interesting:</span>
</p><p>
  
  <em>
    <span>“ Around two days ago—My boys spotted some Valentinoes snooping around Watson. Didn’t think much of it, at first. Now that you mention it, it’s pretty unusual.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>   Huh. Interesting. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <span>So she made a call to Regina. The woman wasn’t in the mood for chatting at all but V managed to get her to confirm that the info she got from Brick was true by using NCPD reports and—Bam—there were several suspicious activities around Little china by ‘tinoes from two to three days ago. Seems to lead by a name named Felipe. With name and coordinate in hand, V set out to Heywood immediately. The goal was to have a talk with the guy and ask him nicely ‘The fuck’s your problem?!’—sure, she expected a gunfight, possibly a big one; she ain’t born yesterday but V sure didn’t expect him to run as soon as she popped up and also being unbelievably fast. So she chased him and here we fucking are. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>    “ You better give me some good fucking explanation, V” Meredith threatens V in a low, warning voice. She’s glaring at the merc who has already invited herself to the back passenger seats.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>   “ Meredith! Follow that fucking ‘tino!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>  “ Fuck!” The blonde woman swears. Mostly to V but Meredith responds to her command nonetheless while occasionally looking at the merc venomously through her front mirror</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>     Tom’s still there. In the front seat, looking back and forth between V and Meredith</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ You… two know each other?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ No,” “ Not really,” Both answers in unison</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ But you just call her name…” He looks at V but then gives up “ You know what....nevermind…” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>     Meredith curses again and chases after the Valentino guy. Even with a vehicle at full speed, V takes mental note of how good the blonde corpo handles her very firmly—in the middle of a goddamn Night city where traffic and people blended in together made it impossible to not bump into someone. Hah, the irony of that statement! V groans slightly as she feels her impacted area start to act up and now it hurts like motherfucker. Good thing that she’s a merc it made her much more tolerant to pain than a normal human.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Unfortunately for V, there is an incident happening right on the street in front of them, Max-Tac team descends from their black AV to wipe out some poor gonks that are dangerous enough to be recognized by the apex predators of the Night city jungle. So they kind of stuck there, awkward silence for a minute because driving right through Max-Tac isn’t a fucking option, not even for Meredith. When they got released, it’s too late. The man of the target has already faded away with the crowd of the street at night—the robust wave of people who have just arrived for the nightly entertainment and those who finally get to go back to their place mixing well enough so it’s impossible to see where the fuck Felipe went. Fucking wonderful, V lost his track. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>   Then she realizes that she’s in a car with 2 strangers, well technically one but she wouldn’t count Meredith as her ‘acquaintance’--but still, V knows her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>   “ Wow V, what a great situation you put yourselves in,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Johnny comments. She sees him materialize next to her with both of his legs resting on her lap. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“ Shut the fuck up Johnny. Do you have a better solution?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>She thinks in her head, her thought voice comes out like a snarl. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“ What? You are the one with the wheel, not me. Use your brain more next time”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>      Well, shit. He ain’t wrong and that frustrated her even more.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>   Only minutes have passed but the ride is already beyond unbearable. Meredith seems to be furious, V catches the intense glare from the woman when she accidentally looks into the rearview mirror  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Let me go and I’ll be on my way,” V doesn’t intend her words to come out like an order but unfortunately that's just how her voice sounds--especially when she is nervous. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>  Suddenly, the ride changes its direction. Meredith pulls up at one of the seemingly abandoned warehouses. V instinct screams at her to get the fuck out and this time, she fucking trust her gut. The merc hacks the lock on the door at her side and herself out of the car before Meredith parks it. The impact on both of her arms doesn’t feel much probably because the car isn’t on high speed by that time, so V doesn’t need time to recover. When she finally gets on her feet, she runs away from the duo as fast as she could. But then, she feels it in the back of her head, daemons are being uploaded--her firewall was breached. V turns around to see Meredith casually leaning against the ride while the man inside had his eyes glow in orange</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then everything fades to black.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>                                                ----------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>   V has no idea how long she has been out, probably not that long. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fucking system reset. Fucking bastard, </span>
  </em>
  <span>V thinks. She hears Meredith talking to the netrunner that shut her down a moment ago. Calling him Tom, so that’s the name. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Listen here, you shithead” Meredith walks around as she spats. The anger in her voice makes V jump a little. However, V is much more afraid of the netrunner who forced her system to hard reset just a few minutes ago. He sits there on a leftover crate of shipment belonging to KangTao--why are we here?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ The fuck is wrong with you, Meredith?! Let me go!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ You forced yourself into my ride, waste my fucking time and damage my ride and, now you’re demanding me to just let you go?!” V listens to the wrath of the corpo woman without interjection because, well, Meredith’s right. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ For fuck’s sake! Fine, I’ll pay the repair fee, alright!? Happy now!?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You? You of all people think you can pay? Let’s see…the repair rate would be around 50,000 Eddies…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ That’s fucking bullshit, Meredith—and you know it!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Yeah, I know! I know that my ride’s worth more than your entire fucking life!” Meredith snaps at V. The blonde is agitated—well, shit. She always is but not to this level—She has no fucking idea the fuck is going on, sure—V probably scratched Meredith’s ride front but did that warranted such a response? Now, V actually gets scared for her life and starts to look for an emergency exit, mostly because of the netrunner behind the menacing blonde. Still, Meredith also seems to be strong enough to strangle her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Then what do you want from me?!” V yells back at the blonde corpo who lost it at her. Meredith’s hard glares bore into V’s soul as if she is contemplating whether or not she should leave V to live for another day.   </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ You know what, let’s start over.” Meredith pops out her cigarette from her side pocket. She takes a long drag as she lights it. Half of her stress from a moment ago was gone. Her blonde hair makes her feel even icier.   </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Yeah, sure. Not like I can go any way,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ First, you need to shut the fuck up and listen to me closely. You said you want that guy earlier, right? I can back you up with that….”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ But…?” Something’s up. Nothing is free in Night city, especially we are talking about an offer from an elite corpo working with a big position in one of the largest corporations in the world</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ I also have a big problem of mine that needs fixing, fast,” Meredith tells V. Her brows start to tie a knot again but despite looking directly at V, the merc can feel that her stress isn’t directed at her at all. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ How big is the job?” V huffs, she rightfully senses death coming but also pretty damn sure that Meredith won’t take ‘no’ as an answer to her offer. Great, from Dexter to the psycho bitch Meredith Stout… </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Well, We could deal with real quiet and easy… or we could start another corporate war,” With that comment, V’s eyes perk up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ You’re shittin’ me right?!” The black-haired woman presses the blonde but Meredith just stares at her in silence, she seems to be embarrassed that she needs to use V’s service once again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ But…” The merc speaks up again, shifts uncomfortably when she starts to feel biting and numbing pain from her right torso--must have been because of the bump earlier… “ Why me? Wouldn’t you have better luck with Rogue? Don’t you know what happened…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>  Meredith takes another drag and releases the smoke directly at V’s face. The toxic residue smell was left all over her nose--make her thinks of Johnny. Speaking of Johnny, he has been watching this whole debacle for a while just behind Meredith and Tom. He leans against a concrete pillar, softly hitting the back of his head against it. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>  “Just what we need V,”  He finally comments. “ Another kamikaze job, brilliant.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>  “ I don’t trust fixers, don’t need them. Besides, this is going to be a long job. I want to… supervise as much as I want. Fixers wouldn’t allow that” Alarm is ringing in V head. She should say no, but she can’t. She has no money, her mercenary career has hit rock bottom, and Meredith probably won’t let her go. What choice does she have? Survive or die. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>  “ Fuck you, Meredith. Fuck. You.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> “ Cute. You should really keep that energy on your gig,” She retorts and both of the women fall into silence. Tom whispers something to Meredith—she is still glaring at the black-haired merc, intensely and thinking of something beyond what is in front of her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Look—I will pay you, personally. However, I want you to get it through your head that you’re in no position to refuse. Oh, and I know that. Trust me—I know about you,” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>    Of fucking cause. Why wouldn’t Meredith have deets on her? She’s an elite—digging into some gonk info is a piece of kibble cake.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Fuck V, what did I say?” Johnny joins in to make a comment in a desperate time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Shut the fuck up…” V mutters, only to Johnny but Meredith catches it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck did you just say?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ I said… what’s the job?” V lies and Meredith definitely doesn’t believe but also doesn’t give enough shit to point that out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ I will tell you that later. Once everything is ready on my part… I’ll get back to you,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>    There is nothing much to say after so both corporate agents depart with V, leaving her alone in a warehouse in the middle of Valentinoes territory.  Making her way back isn’t hard, mostly because… well… she is the closet choom with Jackie. He brought her around this neighborhood often, to see his mother and sometimes simply just fucking around. To some certain degree, she gets small respect from the Valentinoes--enough for them to leave her alone that is. While V is on her way to Watson--back to her wrecked apartment, her holo rings. The icon belongs to a girl next door she dares to call a friend. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ ว่าไง” V answers. It’s getting dark and more dangerous for people to seem to come out now. Some of them look like they interested in V. Yet, the merc isn’t very concerned. She hears her friend, Alice, from the other end of the line, sounds like she’s in Kabuki--specifically, in Jig-Jig street. Working at night. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Bitch?! The fuck happened? I heard someone broke into your place? มึงโอเคไหม?” Alice's voice is so fucking loud that V has to remove her phone from her ears a couple of centimeters. Though as loud as she is, there’s a heavy sentiment of care and worry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine, look… I’m…” V is about to tell her about what she has been through the whole day but the other woman seems to suddenly got interrupted</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Wait… Um, can we catch a little later? I kinda… กุมี customer ว่ะ. Sorry, นะมึง.” Then Alice hangs up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>                             -----------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>    V arrives at her apartment finally. Exhausted, she lets herself lie down completely motionless. Then her phone notified her that she received a new message. V naturally thought it was Alice or fixers but unfortunately, it’s Meredith.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Meredith Stout: </span>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t die on your way back home. I still need to use you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>   V lips curl with anger and frustration as she read the message then decides to leave it unanswered </span>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Grotesque</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Tw: consensual sexual violence</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>She thinks of Jackie again and she can’t sleep. V loses the ability to sleep soundly since the Konpeki plaza shenanigan, who knows--she might drop dead at the end due to chronic insomnia. Probably would do good for the world and people living in it. </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“ Is this the queue where you hate yourself again? When are you gonna stop doing this to us?” Johnny materialized on the couch. He has his aviator on but no bulletproof vest. A sign of the heart to heart conversation </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  
  <span>“ Is this the part where you butt into my business and complain like a dusty old man?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  
  <span>“ You need a fucking therapy if you think 33 is ‘ dusty old man’” He snorts, leaning against her big window that still has red substance on them left unclean since yesterday. Sometimes V forgot that Johnny is all just in her head--not like hallucination, he’s in, literally. As much as she hates to admit it--he’s one of the reasons she doesn’t end it all already. V is still ill though and the relic is a big obstacle since the heist but at this rate, she feels like she could manage.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <b>Things might not be that bad after all</b>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  
  <span>“ The fuck is this, V? Fucking mood disorder or some shit?” Johnny suddenly glitches and teleport to stand right in front of V who still laying down, face up and staring at the ceiling</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “What? You could feel it? Like my emotions and shit?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “ No shit. I lived in your fucking head, what do you think?” He sounds irritated which is probably justified because V, as idiotic as it might sound, actually just learned this at this very moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “ Heh, really takes ‘rent free’ up to a knot, huh?” V’s snickering to herself and closing her eyes loosely for a while. When she opens her eyes, he’s still here.</span>
</p><p>
  
  
  <span> “ In case you didn’t know, jokes suppose to be funny, V”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “ What got you all riled up, Silverhand? , and… fuck.. I made fun of myself, not you.” V simply just got no energy, she’s laying there. So many things to do, but no fuel to do anything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Eat something, V.” Johnny offers solid advice that’s pretty much obvious to anybody.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Already ate,” V replies rubbing her with both of her palms</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was 10 hours ago,” That comment makes V suddenly perk her eyes, she sits at the edge of her bed and looks at the clock on her holo with disbelief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ What the fuck? Thought I was just here like 2 or 3 hours ago, but 10??”</span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>After finding something to fill her dying stomach, V goes back to scrolling her phone through hundreds of messages and contacts.</span> <b><em>Who could have helped her in these situations? What should she do now? </em></b><span>Then she stops at Jack’s chat history with her, </span><b>Jack. </b><span>He would want V to move on, she knows that he would be disappointed by now if he was out there somewhere in heaven. So she quickly takes a refreshing shower and makes herself a little bit more presentable for the subject she is planning to meet today.</span></p><p>
  <span>“Where are you going?” Johnny asks</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Afterlife. To meet Rogue.” V answers</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Afterlife is pretty much the same. Unchanging and unmoving like it was frozen since the time that V and Jackie left. The only thing forever changed is that only her return and no one else in the group does. V shakes off that feeling and buries it deep in the wasteland of her mind, now she needs to be strong--she needs to be tough and resilient. She accidentally catches her reflection on the shiny texture at the front door, </span>
  <b>
    <em>her hair is a disaster</em>
  </b>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“ Bad hair day? Talking to Rogue? Good luck, kid. You need that,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Fuck you, Johnny” And then, with a breath-holding in her nasal, she goes in. Emmerik takes a quick look but says nothing--V also says nothing and with silent acknowledgment, he lets her slide in. The bar’s pretty much as busy as she remembers. Full of life, of biz but not all over the place because her majesty of Night city mercs is there sitting on her booth throne with one bodyguard blocking the entryway. Walking into the bar feels like a lamb in a den of poachers—the looks in their eyes, the mocking, the pity, the gun, strong drinks and boozes, she used to it but also feel like she isn’t.</span>
  <b>
    <em> People rarely do but never get used to it, but those who found their place in the circle of fucking starving vultures should cherish it to death too.  </em>
  </b>
  <span>Some people she never knows hated her but that’s just how it works, for almost a century. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rogue is busy, talking to a woman age around V who seems to be a corpo. She’s in distress--there’s mention of a ride, big money, and time’s running out. Bitch fucked up someway, somehow and now she needs help to get her valuable ride back. Not V’s fucking business, she orders drinks from claire and waits there patiently for the woman to leave, she finally does and as she walks passes she catches a glimpse of her dark green hair with a very painful expression on her face. Yeah, that’s how Rogue affected everybody, working with her or for her. V abandons her drinks immediately and rushes to stand in front of her booth throne before someone else takes her spot. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>
    <em>Come on, V. Talk. </em>
  </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>“ What do you want? Cut it short, kid. I’m not in the mood for a story,” the queen of the afterlife commands. In her eyes, it says all how irritated she is with the previous client</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Well, uh... I just wanna check in to… see if you have any jobs laying around…?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“ Nope, no jobs for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <span>“Oh, I appreciate the honesty, I guess… Hey, Rogue? Are things cool between us? Did I cross you somehow in the past?” She asks, looking into the eyes of the grey-haired woman feels like standing in front of an endless cliff. She hates it, It reminds her of something that happened in the past--Something that better be forgotten</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The regulars got an unlimited supply of jobs behind them, V. You have one job with Dexter and you failed it spectacularly. What do you think they will feel like if I put you into the group? What do you think they will say of me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know that's not true, Rogue.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Doesn't matter, V. You know in this line of work reputation is everything. V… Just…  doing what you are doing best alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  
  <b>
    <em>What I'm doing best? What even was that thing and what does she mean by that? </em>
  </b>
  <span>Doesn't matter; she has no job today and probably tomorrow and probably the next week and next month. She can envision herself lying in her apartment--starving and dying. Actually, before dying, she would probably become homeless because you can't pay rent. She barely pays rent now what will happen next month. She's talking about the other job now. Her old habit, her old job. She can feel a wave of humiliation as she walks out of the bar, can still hear the sounds of mocking and snickering. It almost makes her ear bleed with shame and burden of being a failure. Five minutes of going back to her car became a walk of shame that feels like it lasts for an hour.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she arrives in a little safe space made out of her cranky old car she starts to break down as a stream of tears from sadness and anger. Maybe it was an embarrassment that makes her choke, maybe her ego was that high But the weight of depression that comes from the sense of injustice seems to be the cause of it all. It was Dexter’s fault, he was trash in what he claimed to be good at. Completely restless and ready to throw her away like a piece of broken chrome. V Knows that Rogue knows what’s up but chose to not help. To be fair to Rogue was right about her reluctance to help. It just… hurt. That’s all, hurtful. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It's hurtful to know that if she died nobody would care and they have every damn right not to be. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Johnny materializes again but he chooses to be quiet and observing--his present calm a little bit. She still cries some more but with every teardrop wasted on the washed-up steering wheel it’s like she slowly descends to madness </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Maybe we should get out of here and find something else to do don't forget that your room is still unfinished. There's still plenty to clean up, right? Maybe you should begin with that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Wow, Johnny f****** Silverhand teaches me how to have a good life and how to take care of myself. holy-shit the irony, Or maybe she just at rock bottom to depart at Johnny has to intervene which is again very f****** embarrassing not to anyone else but in her own mind</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What should I do now? Where should I go? where could I find Eddies to save myself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That's on you kid. I'm dead; forget that?” He said casually but his voice is filled with empathy and understanding. V is so tired and wants to go back to her room and never left,  hoping that she died back there in the landfill. Now she is living but with brain damage and an inability to support herself. Why is she trying at this point? What is she even living For?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Collected herself after 3 minutes of mental breakdown, she decides to drive herself home Because she can't stay here any longer. It's not the end of the world. She thinks she just needs to go back and calm down then figure out what to do next.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You still have Regina?” Johnny states and what he is saying is making sense but she isn't in a state to listen to any of it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Time becomes a little bit irrelevant when the brain is soaking in depression and madness. She wasn't sure how long it took from the afterlife to her apartment. But the moment she arrived at her mega tower the sun had already started to set. Everything is the same. She sees her neighbors, recognizes them but knows neither of them. They are enjoying the afternoon, something that makes her feel bitter to see after the death of Jackie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ไปไหนมา? กินข้าวหรือยังเนี่ย?” V hears a familiar voice in her native language. It immediately grabs her attention as very few people speak this language daily. Only one person she has ever heard speak this tongue,  her best friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Afterlife, you know looking for a job,” V says back to her friend but the emotion in the voice is clear and the newly arrived woman just stays silent as she’s looking down at her own feet trying to figure out what is the correct thing to say to a distressed merc. She finally looks up and as she's going to open her mouth to say something V interrupts:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“เพิ่งกลับมาเหรอ? How’s work?”Then both of them go off talking about whatever they could think of and that moment. Something that V desperately needs after the traumatic loss of her best friend. Her name is Ploy; just nickname though, real name is too long for any western-centric audience [</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ha</span>
  </em>
  <span>]</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The duo spends that entire evening talking about everything and nonsense nothing while they clean V’s room; picking up what has left lying around. Ploy goes on to rip apart one of her recent, unpleasant customers—how they would treat her like a piece of non-sentient sextoy; not even bother to give her basic humanity and minimal respect. It’s tough but she doesn’t necessarily hate the jobs at all, just some people involved in it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ Why did you become a merc?” Ploy asks her hard-hitting. V doesn’t know except that it pays fast, also pays much bigger than other jobs if managed correctly, with enough talents and good fixers. Yeah, ‘</span>
  <b>
    <em>if managed correctly</em>
  </b>
  <span>’, bitterness fogging her mind again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good Eddies if shit doesn’t turn south,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It does for you this time, doesn’t it?” Her question is innocent but the fact that she says it at all irritates V to her chromed bone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No shit,” V hopes that doesn’t come out as being too rude. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ploy is sitting on the merc’s bed; crossing her legs while looking at her friend cleaning the red paint from the one the only window in this room. She is observing the apartment, finding anything that has changed in the last month she got in here. V is smoking now. Ploy’s gonna ask but decides against it as she realizes what an absolute shitshow V’s life has been in the last weeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, I can find works for you,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merc works? Since when you’re a fixer?” V’s eyeing her friend with suspicion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ No gonk, joytoying I mean!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” V lets the words internalize a little bit. Her friend offers to remind her about a lot of things; things that she wanted to forget. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nah, I better not do that,” She says with a small smile on her face but that is a hint of fear in her voice that she’s trying to suppress</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The evening was concluded with Ploy saying goodbye and going back to her room. V throws herself On the very same spot on the bed she left in the morning; it was unmade And probably remains unmade for the rest of this week. The dark-haired woman picks up her holo And scrolls through the messages that she left an answer. There is one from Meredith; she left her on reading. For some reason, there is a sense of guilt building inside of her guts. The woman’s lips curl then twist as she starts to feel a rush of anger wash over her. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She doesn’t want to depend on Meredith; let alone working for her again</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Johnny wasn't wrong about this one; Meredith will bondage her then force her to do Militech’s dirty biz. </span>
</p><p><span>Ask V lost in her thoughts, her holo goes off. the name that is displayed——</span><b><em>Meredith,</em></b> <span>Makes her panic and cringe internally at the same time.</span></p><p>
  <span>“ what do you want?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ oh, So you are still alive. Good, So let's talk about your new assignment.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I am not working for you. Do you understand me? I have no f****** interest in working with you. Your Eddies? I don't f****** need it. Now, f*** off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“ I thought you were smart, V. Seems like I overestimate you, unfortunately. Don't worry, you will change your mind; your type, they are always changing theirs. Every single one of them. I will make you see that, V.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell are you going to do; Can you just let me the fuck alone?” She wants to keep her cool</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well, shit. This is her life now. What can she do? A job won’t pay good enough if it doesn’t come from a good fixer and if the Queen of the Afterlife won’t clear her name; then she’s done. V is at her lowest low and there’s nothing much one can do to lift her. Not Johnny, not her friend, not even if Rogue changes her mind, and not Meredith fucking Stout. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>V remembers something; the thing left by her mother, the one priciest thing V has owned that isn’t guns and blades. She walks over to her desk with all the empty cardboard boxes that were repurposed as containers and bins. Books that are, by now, have been living on this planet earth a couple of decades longer than her life; given from someone on her mother’s relatives’ side when V was 14 years old. None of it was read in the last 10 years. V never actually read a book in her life; maybe summary but never on the actual texts. V reaches out to one of the drawers, inside of it there’s a box. The box was in crimson and embroidered with golden threads, vintage, and completely out of place in the 2077 Night city. And inside that box, there’s supposed to be a brooch; vintage both by its look and by its age. This one she remembers that her mother gave her since she was a little girl; as cheesy as it might sound, it is a family heirloom. She doesn't show it to anybody else, And she would never sell it in a million years. Once in a while she would take it out just to see, somehow we calm her down</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <em>
    
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>It was supposed to be there just like always.</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>But it wasn't. There is nothing in the box.</em>
  </b>
  
</p><p>
  
  <span>The woman is trying not to panic. Sure, it wasn't here but that probably because the last time she takes it out and forgets to put it back in place. So she stayed calm and started searching the house for a missing object. But as 30 minutes have passed;  her brain starts to take in the reality. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  
  
  <b>
    <em>It isn't here and somebody takes it. </em>
  </b>
</p><p> </p><p><span>The dread of losing one of the most important items that connect her to her mother and father, then their history fills her vein like a lethal shot they once gave to the death sentence prisoners. Her legs give up, and like a broken vintage ball joint doll without its strings to support their body--V falls to the floor.</span> <span>Both hands cupping her face, she could feel the hand that exterior skin was roughened countless of abuse she let it tolerates. </span></p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She thinks back to when her mother gave her the jewelry. It was in the middle of the rainy season that didn’t really exist in America; all of them, mother, father, and her were trapped in a very small and damp place. There were other people here too and there was the sound of water. Deepwater, waves, crashes, and leaking steams and drops but also she has water on her face too; she cried. Cargos slid a little bit but not much, and it was everywhere; the Lord knows what and it intimidated her 5 years old-self. Her mother leaned close now and said:</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“ Keep this. Hey, don’t cry now. Look at me,”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Her mother placed a box in her hand, she felt the rough texture of </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>velvet</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Night city’s not far from here. Stop crying now.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meredith hates being rejected and she has a feet-long list of dead people who have rejected her before; whether it was jobs… or love. And V’s threading that very fine line--doesn’t matter; in time V would work for her. Meredith will give her some time. Meanwhile, she takes her time to read some detes that the blonde corpo’s little bird has pulled up on V. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She likes to know who she’s dealing with. V got that talent and Meredith, to some certain degrees, believed that the merc wouldn’t fuck up the jobs. After all, the little merc proved herself two times; at the WholeFood and the whole tigerclaws mole situation. Still, Meredith being Meredith, she needs to know more--</span>
  <b>
    <em>she wants to know everything.</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Violette </span>
  </em>
  <span>is the name the merc used to take and is the name that bothers Meredith for a while. She seems to have heard of it before and it bothers her because V used this alias while she was a sex worker. Being a sex worker isn’t hard to understand but the name hit the deepest part of her brain and it made her think--</span>
  <em>
    <span>where the fuck did she has heard this name? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Meredith represses that issue in her mind for unpacking later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh, V has a very colorful past like a neon sign cloaked with blood on Kabuki streets. She wonders why laws never catch up with V, Meredith highly doubts that a street rat like V could even manage to not cause troubles at least for a day. There’s not much recorded; the archives that she has right now don’t satisfy the blonde either. The lack of detailed information but only snippets of seemingly interesting and jarring detes. Like this one; V apparently has two big surgeries in her lifetime, something that has to do with wetware but no accident cases were recorded. To put it simply; it looks like someone deleted her track records left only dust and bone of her past all over the place. It’s frustrating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her holo goes off; the blonde gets slightly annoyed at first as she thinks it’s one of her underlings. It isn’t; it’s V. Now, she’s suddenly interested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I changed my mind,” Meredith knows that V would come around. Still, this is fast. Surprisingly fast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mind telling me why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, is the work still available?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The corpo blonde slowly caresses her lips with her thumb. Contemplating. </span>
  <em>
    <span>V needs some discipline for sure but this is not the time</span>
  </em>
  <span>; </span>
  <em>
    <span>there are works to be done</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will send coordinates tomorrow,” Meredith presses</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine… by me, I guess,” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Good</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Meredith thinks, </span>
  <em>
    <span>You don’t exactly have a choice.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“My advice, V? Next time think before running your mouth. Or else I have to </span>
  <em>
    <span>discipline </span>
  </em>
  <span>you,” V hangs up without any reply after Meredith says that.</span>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>V is now outside of the firm Meredith wants her to investigate. There, it was swarmed by an ungodly amount of Valentinoes. Again, she has them some respects but the street is the business of the street and merc is merc; what needs to be done has to be done.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hacks the camera on the front door to shut it down and then sneaks behind the first Valentino she sees then knocks them unconscious. V tapes their mouths, ties them up then throws them into a nearby ride’s trunk. She’s tip-toeing around a pack of Rangoon as silent as possible. V isn’t overly concerned about the valentinoes as she could incapacitate them one by one, slowly, silently, and as non-confrontational as she can. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally arrives on the second floor where she spots the supposed computer that she has to extract the detes from. V doesn’t really care about this whole corporate false flag attacks bullshit. She is here for one reason only; to track down Felipe. Motherfucker took her shit and she will hunt him to the edge of the world. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Isn’t your job is to fetch detes for that corpo bitch?” Johnny speaks from behind; he leans against the concrete wall looking at one of the unconscious gangoon she left on the floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Since when did you side with a corpo?” V murmurs as she scrolls through every single file that could possibly lead her to the man. It is illogical and it is unproductive, futile chasing a piece of jewelry that she doesn’t even know if it worths anything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve got the detes,” Meredith doesn’t say anything yet. There’s a small gap of silence where the corpo seems to contemplate something. Then she speaks up:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The data is… very useful. Good job, V. Really.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you gonna use that detes for? Another corporate war?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We will see that. Now, let’s meet at… I will send you the coordinates.” And she hangs, just like that. A moment later, she receives the address… and the picture.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No-tell motel,” Johnny mutters next to her as he gazes to the message she received; he doesn’t need to do that, he is living in her head after all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t tell me you’re going,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why not?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a trap, you stupid bitch.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh-huh, Could be; but curiosity killed the cat,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened last time with Dexter?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Meredith has no reason to zero me, the job's completed. Why the fuck would she do that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Even if you’re right, she’s a fucking walking red flag if I could ever seen one before.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, she’s a bitch. I’ll give you that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you still wanna go?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re losing your fucking mind, V.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A piece of it, yeah. Back in the junkyard.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She must have lost her mind. Johnny was right. She might be killed tonight. Yet, she’s still here. A run-down motel in the middle of night city. V feels like she is lost when she drifts inside the building passing through a woman who looks almost dead and a little too drunk, a man shaking violently with his face all bloody while he’s talking on phone his voice filled with unsettling panic. There’s a woman who is disturbing to look at at the foot of the escalator; with her pure white skin, big pair of silver eyes and her lips sealed with some sort of stitches. She starts at V a little too long. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>V finally stands in front of the door that separates her from the woman inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“V,” Johnny speaks up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t like,” He continues</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It will be fine, tell me about the red flags later, hm?” V dismisses Johnny. And to his frustration, the rockerboy decides to not be combative today and resigns to the deepest part of her brain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opens the door, and the world changes into just a concept of abstract feelings. The room was painted by the light of magenta and lively blue, two pretty colors mixing together bringing out the dirty thoughts that suddenly plagued her head. Meredith is here in front of her; like an antithesis to the settings, she wears nothing but a leather lingerie while sitting on the bed. Full of herself, she has that smug smile painted all over her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Betcha didn’t expect to see me like this,” Meredith’s voice seems to be intoxicated by venom and honey, something that would put V to her death and still make it feel alright. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I… “</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know what, V? I like how you operate. So I think you deserve a… bonus,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>V walks closer, she knows what is going on and she lets herself get pulled by the fingertips of the blonde woman. Her palm caresses her cheek while her eyes stare right into V’s pair of abyss dark eyes. Meredith’s cool blue pair is ironically filled with fire and lust; her hand pulls V up close and somehow manages to take off her outer jacket and crop. She slides down to V’s crotch then inserts it into her jeans and… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh… fuck..” V mutters as Meredith’s fingers roam all over her,now, wet clit. Electrified euphoria starts and concentrates from her cunt and down her legs before it swipes across her back. Meredith intensifies it; she rubs V’s nipples as she now stands behind her. Then the feelings are gone, Meredith withdraws her presence and goes back to sit on the bed just like the first time V walks in on her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Comes here,” V obeys Meredith </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“On your knee,” V drops her position </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Meredith presses the merc’s mouth between her legs. Her part is well groomed; completely shaved. V can feel the wetness all over her face as she feels like choking both physically and lust. The corpo suddenly pulls V’s head back by her hair, the pain spread across her scalps perks V up on the alert. There’s a small whimper as Meredith forcefully grabs her by the throat then shoves her to the bed. Both her wrists are strapped with each other while also chained to the bed’s head; blue pair boring into her and it contained all kind of desire, sex and violence or combination of both. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Studd between her legs is larger than the one she used to see. Without any hesitation, the blonde pushes all that she has into the younger woman. V surprises that she’s already that wet as the monster strap goes in without any issue. But the largeness on its own created a problem and discomfort; V feels literally stuffed up down there that she has to huff out a large pocket of air to cope with sudden invasive fulfillness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, bitch. You like that?” Meredith asks as she stops mid way to the base.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck yeah… fucking… split me apart.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>V grinds her teeth together as Meredith pushes it hard all the way to the strap’s base. She feels like getting impaled but nothing feels better than this, it’s been so long since she has something like this; sex that she deserved. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman grunts and screams and laughs when Meredith starts pounding right away. At first it’s fucking hurt, but then V become desensitized to it all and now pain turns into something thrilling and sexually delicious. Then suddenly: V feels an immediate sharp pain all across her cheek, with Meredith hand in the air she realizes Meredith slapped her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you listening? I.said.look.at.me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she looks into Meredith’s eyes. So bright blue but yet feel so dark. And suddenly, V feels nothing. She felt euphoric by the gentle touch then almost go insane by the sudden change to the violent sex, but now she wonders what is she doing. What is even going on and what will she gain from this? Is V trapped? Maybe. This one of those mistakes that will trap her for life?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Meredith picks up the pace and moves her hips rougher; V screams and grunts fills the room beside Meredith’s panting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a while, Meredith cum and immediately leave, leaving V to stare at the empty dirty room while contemplating everything. V feels a pang of loneliness hit her. Then her holo flashes with new notifications </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meredith: Eddies transferred. Enjoy your bonus. Stay safe.</span>
</p><p>
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  <br/>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
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